The present invention pertains to electric storage batteries and, in particular to lead-acid batteries used for starting, lighting and ignition (SLI) of automotive vehicles.
SLI batteries are almost exclusively of the well-known lead-acid type and, although the basic electrochemical construction and operation of all SLI batteries is virtually identical, the combinations of container shapes and sizes, and types and locations of the exterior battery terminals are as numerous as the different types of vehicles in which they are used. Each major automobile manufacturer applies its own criteria in battery size and design, as well as performance, and these criteria are continually subject to change, because of continuing changes both in battery technology and in automotive design. The result is a large proliferation in automobile battery types, the effects of which are particularly burdensome to the manufacturers and suppliers of batteries to the automotive replacement market.
In the United States, battery manufacturers and suppliers have attempted to identify and categorize automotive batteries, primarily by group size, but also on the basis of battery container shape, terminal construction and location, and performance rating. Battery Council International, an association of manufacturers and suppliers, presently categorizes 12-volt passenger car and light commercial batteries in 44 different group sizes, all of which are dimensionally different. Combined with the other variables in terminal location and construction and battery performance, the battery supplier faces potentially staggering manufacturing and inventory problems
There presently exists, therefore, a real need for an automotive battery, particularly suited to the replacement market, which will meet the widest range of group size, terminal configuration and performance requirements. Such a battery should also be readily suitable for direct replacement or simple conversion for easy replacement. It is also desirable that such a battery be designed to utilize to the greatest extent possible existing conventional manufacturing processes and equipment. Finally, because of the well-recognized potential hazards associated with the use and operation of lead-acid batteries, there must be no diminution in the techniques and methods available to enhance the safe venting of cell gases and to prevent corrosion by the acid electrolyte.